Monsters Within
by Higuchimon
Summary: [one-shot, Yu-Gi-Oh Pairings Challenge Season 8, Round 2, Priest Seto x Kisara/Kisara x Priest Seto, Mizushippiong] She owed him her life. She would pay her debt with the only coin she had: the very life that he had saved.


**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit.  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh  
**Title:** Monsters Within  
**Romance:** Set x Kisara  
**Word Count:** 2,456  
**Genre:** Romance, Angst||**Rated:** PG-13  
**Notes:** This takes place in manga-verse. Some of the dialogue between Set and Kisara is taken from the manga as well, some verbatim, some modified.  
**Feedback:** All forms eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
**Summary:** She owed him her life. She would pay her debt with the only coin she had: the very life that he had saved.

* * *

Kisara didn't know how long she had been here anymore. Days had to have passed, perhaps even weeks, but she wasn't aware anymore. In all truth, that had been the story of her life for as long as she could remember.

_Is this why?_ She stared down at her pale skin and tried to see the monster that she'd been told was inside of her. Lord Seto wouldn't lie to her. She trusted that, though they had only exchanged a handful of words. He was a priest. Why would a priest lie?

Yet she couldn't see it. Her skin wasn't scaled or rough, no rougher than it should have been after her months in the desert.

_The white dragon._ No one had uttered those words to her face, but she could hear the guards outside of her chamber speaking amongst themselves. A power to rival the gods: that was what they claimed she had.

She flexed her fingers and wondered how anyone could believe that of her. She couldn't even get a cup of water without being stoned for it. How could she rival so much as a grain of sand?

Yet…yet…Lord Seto's words still rang in her mind. Above and beyond his voice, his eyes leaped into her memory. _He has blue eyes. Just like I do._ She couldn't remember anyone else she'd ever met who had blue eyes.

Because he'd said it, she believed there was that kind of a monster inside of her. _But I've never seen it before._ And yet, it did explain some facets of her past. Why whenever she had found herself threatened beyond her ability to bear she had fainted.

No, not fainted. Her monster had appeared to protect her.

_I wonder what it looks like._ No two stories of the guards seemed to match, and she wondered, just a little, if any of them had ever actually seen it.

Her thoughts wandered back to the priest who had saved her life. What did he want? Why had he done so in the first place? She hadn't yet had a chance to ask him any of those questions. Would she even want to know the answers if she could? What if Priest Seto wasn't as kind as she thought he was? He had allowed the guards to place her into that horrible dungeon with those prisoners, after all. What if all he wanted was the power that she held within her?

What if those blue eyes lied to her?

No. No, that couldn't be. She'd overheard the guards talking about more than just the monster within her. Some of them talked about the priests and the Pharaoh and someone called 'Bakura', who was causing disasters everywhere he went. But some of them also mentioned how Priest Seto wished for power to rival the gods, just as she had.

A cold chill ran through Kisara and she ran her hands up and down her arms. It _could not be_. Someone who had saved her life couldn't have done it just for the power. She wanted to believe that. She had to believe that.

She glanced out the window; it was too highly placed for her to see much out of there, but it was at least a view of a sort. She could see the marketplace if she strained her eyes, but the inner gardens were much easier to see. The tops of them, at any rate. What would it be like to walk in those?

Flowers had never meant much to her, but to be free and welcome somewhere in order to do something like that appealed to her. How long _had_ it been? Five years? Ten? Perhaps even more. Since she was a child at the least. Her memories beyond that blurred with the passage of time and pain.

_What would it be like to walk there with Priest Seto?_ Her pale cheeks burned at the very thought. She couldn't even _begin_ to harbor a notion like that! He was a _priest_! If he wed anyone, it wouldn't be someone like her. His bride would be of noble blood, dark skinned and dark haired, as a proper Egyptian woman should be. At best, she could be…his concubine.

That wouldn't be such a bad situation, she tried to remind herself. She had heard stories about concubines who were even more favored than their lord's wives were. Perhaps they were only stories. She knew little about Egypt and the customs, only that since she'd arrived here, she had known only pain and fear.

And…whatever it was she felt when she thought about Priest Set.

She closed her eyes and sat back down on the bed. It was a finer resting place than any she recalled having slept in before. Everything about living here in the palace was finer. _I must pay him back. Perhaps…I will give him my power._

She didn't know how or even if such an act was possible. They knew more here in Egypt about such things than she could ever have learned anywhere else. If only she could stay and learn as well. Perhaps if the people grew to know her, they would fear her less? At the least, certainly Priest Set would guard her as he had already.

_Couldn't I…guard him, though? With this power?_ If there was a way for her to harness it, to be able to bring it out without passing out, so she could keep him safe from harm, then she would find it, somehow. Not for her sake, but for his, for the one who had given her shelter and food.

She glanced outside again; everything was getting darker. Was it nightfall already? She hadn't thought it was that late, but the shadows fell.

Another shiver warped through her, one that was more of the soul than of the body. Something moved out there in the darkness, beyond where she could see it.

"It's a monster! The Pharaoh and the Priests are fighting it!" One of the guards shouted; she was just able to hear his words before the ground shook and shrieks of fear and anger began to fill the air.

She went over to the door and leaned between the bars, using her grip on them to keep her balance. "What's going on?" She called out, wanting to get the soldiers' attention. "What is it?" Cries of monsters and battle didn't tell her what she really wanted to know, which was where Priest Seto was and if he was safe or not.

No one appeared to have heard her or to have cared if they did. The two guards who had stood not that far from her door ran through one of the exits, ignoring all of her cries.

"We're all going to die!" She could hear that much coming from one of them, but that was the last she heard before they were out of earshot. Her hands gripped on the bars for a moment before the room shook one more time, and she fell back to avoid some of the larger chunks of masonry that fell from the ceiling.

She closed her eyes and stepped back, trying to find the most sheltered spot in the room. Whatever was going on, she couldn't get out of there. The barred door prevented it, and even if it had been open, she didn't think that she could have moved.

_Where are you?_ No. She knew where he was, the only place that someone like him would ever be. He would be with the Pharaoh, defending their land from any who would do it harm. She couldn't imagine him being anywhere else.

"Kisara! Kisara!" A strong voice cut through the din caused by more and more crumbling walls and shaking floors. Through the dust and shadows she saw him: dusty and dirty, with streaks of blood from who knew what, weariness in his blue eyes…

Her heart sang at the sight of him. He was _there_ with her, he'd come _looking_ for her! She wanted to ask why he was there and not with the Pharaoh, but the words died as he came up to the door and stared at her for a moment. "Kisara, are you all right?"

He scarcely waited for her to reply before he spoke again. "The palace is about to collapse!" He yanked the barred door open and gestured for her to get out of there. "Quick, run!"

She stepped out after him, trying to maintain her balance as everything shook around her and more debris cascaded downward. "Why is this happening?" A terrible thought struck her. She didn't want to think it was true, but if _he_ wanted that power, then there could be others who did as well. "Is this because of the monster that lives within me?"

Set shook his head as he guided her through the corridors. "No, Kisara. Humans who were seduced by evil and darkness caused this catastrophe. This happened because of monsters that we call 'man'." He glanced down at her as they ran together and her heart skipped a beat at the look in his eyes. A look that could only be for her, not for the creature inside of her. "Don't worry. What's inside you isn't a monster at all."

For a moment they stared at one another, ignoring the way that the world itself was crashing down around their ears. At least until an especially huge chunk of that world crashed down next to them, sending small shards of debris digging into them. Kisara was too startled to cry out, especially with Priest Set seized her by the arm and began to run, pulling her behind him.

"When we get out of the palace, I want you to run away, Kisara. Get out of this dying kingdom and find a place of light to live in, where you'll never be touched by darkness again." Set threw a look at her and she knew how it must be for her ka when it flew. "Be safe, Kisara. Always."

Even as he spoke the words, they came out from the falling palace. Guards and lesser priests and other people ran everywhere and Kisara couldn't be certain if it were day or night. Darkness was everywhere, yet no stars or moon glowed in the sky. He gestured her to a clear path and she began to move along it. She paused and looked back for a moment, words hovering behind her lips.

"You be safe as well, please." She didn't waste time waiting for a reply. She knew that he wouldn't give the one she wanted to hear. Instead, she turned and fled as swiftly as her feet would carry her.

She didn't know how long she had run for, be it an hour, a minute, or only a second. But between one breath and the next, she was no longer fleeing through the ruined city, but standing almost where she'd just been, within sight of Set.

A short distance away stood someone else, a person who appeared to be three-quarters dead, aged and decrepit, yet strong with power and darkness. Kisara's heart quailed within her as she looked at Set, wondering what was going on here.

She had no chance at all to voice the question before dark lightning streamed from the old man's hands and struck her without mercy. Kisara screamed, her mind and body shattered with pain such as she'd never known. The stones of the villagers meant nothing compared to this agony, and darkness took her away.

But despite the shadows, despite the pain, she could still hear his voice, speaking words she had not dreamed he would ever say to her. Perhaps if this hadn't happened, he wouldn't have. She didn't know. She couldn't know. She only listened and hoped that they were true.

"I wanted your light, Kisara. I wanted you." If only…two words as sweet and as painful as could be.

"Lord Set…" She didn't know when she spoke if he could hear her, but the way he jerked told her that he could. "Let me protect you with the light of my spirit."

She could feel every inch of him, his body, his heart, his mind, his soul. _Yes_, everything he'd said to her he meant! Perhaps he hadn't known he'd meant more than searching for power when they'd met but _now_ he knew differently.

Yet she wasn't the only being there. Another walked within the halls of Set's soul, that revolting creature she'd seen before. _The High Priest of Darkness._ She knew not where the knowledge came from. Perhaps it was Set himself.

He should not have been there. This was Priest Set's soul, a place of shining light and courage, and a cowardly, despicable being like that had no business here. Yet there he was all the same.

Kisara could feel her ka for the first time, striking at another's command. Set? Was it Set? No. She was aware of that now. Perhaps to someone on the outside it would be the priest, but she knew the truth. It was the dark priest who controlled Set at the moment.

Her eyes narrowed and for one of the few times in her life, anger coursed through her. How dare he! How _dare_ someone try to control Priest Set! A warrior, a priest, a _man_ of such pride, bending to the will of another and not by his choice? Everything within her screamed at this violation.

No. She wouldn't let this happen. She would serve no one but Set, no matter how many eons passed. Only he had ever been truly kind to her. Only he _deserved_ this power.

She moved through his spirit until she stood before him and the dark priest. "Lord Set," she murmured, her heart strong and her ka under her conscious control at last. "You mustn't let the shadows win."

What she had never done as a human she now could do as easily as she breathed. One moment a woman stood there, the next the White Dragon was between Set and the priest of shadows. Light encompassed Set, taking him away from this place of battle. This was _her_ fight, the first of many she knew she would fight and win for Set.

Bright light built up between her jaws and tore away the darkness first, then the dark priest, shredding him to nothingness. He would never harm Set again.

She held him between her wings, gazing out over the ruins of what had been a proud city only days earlier. He had much work to do. She would be there with him as he did it. She would always be with him.

Always.

**The End**


End file.
